The Self
Part 19 - Our Interpretations

Hermann Rorschach carried out tests where people were shown random inkblots. From these images people saw all kinds of different shapes and objects.

An example of this is the ‘cocktail party effect’ where despite noises coming from everywhere we can filter out the noises we don’t want – and focus on the sounds we do want. We are especially good at listening for our own name being called out.

An example of this is confirmation bias theory, which suggests that we all tend to be a “yes man” or a “creep” to ourselves: we would rather avoid being wrong than be open to new ideas or be open to the fact we could be wrong.

Everyone has a story to tell. It’s neither here nor there how strictly factual it is.

If we didn’t make up our own reality, which reality would we choose, given that everyone else has a different reality from the next person?
If two people were to paint the same face, they would interpret it in different ways.